Only 53 of the 500 domestic violence sector workers promised by the federal government’s 2022 budget have been hired, according to the latest Senate Estimates. This number comes up to 63 if part-time workers are included but still falls well short of the agreed target.
In 2022, the federal government set a commitment to spend $169.4 million over four years to fund 500 frontline service and community workers to support people experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence.
This funding went to individual states and territories, which are responsible for hiring the workers.
While each state and territory said it would fill 352 jobs by June 30, data from the Department of Social Services has shown that just 63 staff have been hired across the country as of May 31. And the state of Queensland is the only state to not secure any staff.
Roughly a month ago, the federal government had called on states to expedite their hiring of domestic violence support workers as it was clear the target of 500 would be missed.
In March, only 17 out of the promised 500 DV support workers had been hired across the country. At the time, a department official told the estimates hearing: “All states have informed us that they are on track for meeting their worker targets this financial year and we’ve only seen the start of those workers coming into place.”
Among growing community pressure and a “crisis” of male violence in Australia, government sources have pointed the blame towards difficulty finding qualified workers. However,the NSW DV service claimed the sector hadn’t received the funding it needed to hire workers.
The latest data shows NSW now has six staff employed, Victoria has 11 and Western Australia has six. South Australia has fifteen workers, Tasmania has 17, the ACT has five and the Northern Territory has three. Queensland has zero.
This means only slightly less than a tenth of the promised domestic violence support workers have been hired. It’s a dangerously low figure for a country that sees one woman violently killed every four days.
The number of men murdering women is on a sharp rise this year, with 35 women’s lives already stolen in 2024. That’s more than half of the 64 total women killed in 2023.
A joint statement issued in October 2022 from Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said that the plan to 500 DV support workers over four years was part of Labor’s election commitment to make women’s safety a national priority, as outlined in the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032.
“The funding will see 200 new workers employed each year 2022-23 with a further 100 in 2024-25. Funds for these positions will be distributed to states and territories to support them to best target areas of need,”
During Senate Estimates, Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Kerrynne Liddle criticised the dire lack of staff secured on time, saying: “It is a pretty go slow appalling result.”
Liddle has long been calling for the federal government to deliver on the boost in frontline domestic and family violence workers. Back in December 2023, she spoke to parliament, asking what decision process the government was following to hire and provide funding to frontline workers, and said: “The delay is simply not good enough.”
Senator Tim Ayres, who was representing the Minister for Social Services yesterday, disagreed with the criticism, arguing that the federal government completed its part of the deal by delivering funding to the states.
Ayres placed the onus upon the states and territories, while also saying the government doesn’t “point fingers”.
“We have discharged our obligations here in terms of funding, we have heard from the states on this question, they are doing their best,”
“I think we all wish that they had been in a position to recruit more, more quickly,” he said.
“We don’t as a government point fingers…We have provided funding and we are looking to the states to complete their end of the bargaining which is to recruit employees.”
Speaking in Senate Estimates, Department of Social Services deputy secretary Letitia Hope said the figures were expected to rise over the next few months, noting that Queensland announced that morning an additional six workers are set to be hired.
“We want to verify that to make sure that is correct, we will continue to publish this information on a monthly basis,” she said about the figures.
“The states are actually moving at their own rapid pace to do this, they are trying to fulfil their commitments,” she said.
“We do meet with them frequently.”